Finnish nuclear plant delayed again as Areva & TVO go legal.

Reuters: “TVO, Areva cannot give estimated completion date. Media cites sources that now delayed until at least 2018. Areva blasts influence of lawyers, Finnish regulation. TVO says Areva could do more to speed up work.”“Finland’s TVO was unable on Friday to estimate a start date for its long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor as the utility and French supplier Areva, already battling in court, blamed each other for the latest delays.
Finnish daily Kauppalehti cited sources from the site saying the startup of the reactor could be delayed until at least 2018 as work had slowed.
Early last year, Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said the start might be delayed until 2016.Construction of the Areva-designed EPR reactor began in 2005 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2009.
Site manager Jouni Silvennoinen said TVO was still waiting for supplier Areva-Siemens to update its work schedule following a reduction of 400 workers at the site this year. TVO said the site currently has about 1,000 workers.
….Areva also took a new 425 million euro ($587 million) provision on Olkiluoto, taking total provisions on the project to 3.85 billion euros and knocking Areva into a 494 million euro loss for 2013.
….Olkiluoto 3’s construction costs were first estimated at 3.2 billion euros. Late in 2012, Oursel estimated the overall cost would end up closer to 8.5 billion euros.
….Asked about the risk to Areva’s reputation of a conflict with a client, Oursel said the two EPRs being built in Taishan, China were on budget and on schedule and that Britain’s choice of two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point proved the problem was not with its reactor design.”